


handle me

by jessamoo



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-11
Updated: 2014-11-10
Packaged: 2018-02-24 23:00:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2599679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessamoo/pseuds/jessamoo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>for the prompt "Cora doesn't believe Lydia can handle a werewolf, especially not her. Lydia makes it her mission to prove otherwise."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“I think I can handle a werewolf.” 

The words are said without thought. Maybe that’s why it sparks something inside Cora. It’s said so casually, almost sweetly, with that cherry lipped twisted smile.

It brings something up in Cora, it makes her wolf growl silently in her, it stirs something primal that she had been suppressing since she got home. Her brother had found a semi normal life here, and she was trying to find a place within that. Trying to find her pack.

She highly doubted that would come in the form of a gang of incompetent supernatural teenagers. 

But here she was, in a dark room, something feral lurking behind her eyes as she took in Lydia’s slightly flushed cheeks, as she felt her pulse rush where she held her wrist.   
Suddenly a shivering quake of desire travelled over her, and she wanted to feel that pulse all over her skin, under her lips, against the scratch of her teeth.

Lydia looks down slowly to her wrist, still caught in Cora’s adamantine grip. Her slow eyes are wide like she’s utterly disgusted by the site.

“Go on. Pull your hand away. Prove you can handle a werewolf.”

Lydia sets her lips angrily but doesn’t move her wrist. She knows she won’t be able to. She cocks her head, staring at Cora, seeing the challenge in her eyes. Seeing the spark of amusement there.

She tugs her wrist and Cora lets her go with a small quirking smile.

Lydia lets out a deep huff and flips her hair, pouting her lips haughtily. 

“Now if you’ll excuse me I have much better things to do with my time than argue with the likes of you.” she snaps, turning to reach for her door.

“I’m sure you do. Say hi to Aiden for me.” Cora drawls sarcastically.

Lydia glares at her for a brief moment, hesitant. “I’m sure you can do it yourself next time you decide to barge in on us, though I don’t see why you would want to. Is me you want to watch, or him?”

Cora snorts and raises her eyebrows. “My brother wants me to keep an eye on you. And trust me when I say I don’t want to watch that pathetic lightweight of an alpha any more than I have to.”

Lydia turns back to her, her mouth open in a little pink ‘o’ of surprise.

“Lightweight? I do not date lightweights.” She admonishes.

“Well why don’t you come and see me when that’s actually true.” Cora retorts in a patronizing tone.

Lydia shakes her head and recovers herself, flouncing out the door in a haze of bright hair and the scent of flowers.

Cora knew why she didn’t want Lydia to be with Aiden. He was an alpha actively working against them. But there was something else, she thinks now, something deeper that had crept up on her in the darkness. 

She thought Lydia was more sensible than this. She thought she would know Aiden couldn’t be trusted. She also knew she was worth far more than him. 

 

Lydia twirled her long hair around her finger distractedly as she and Allison sat in the library that afternoon.

She was staring off into the distance, not listening to Allison telling her about the new weapons she and her dad had procured. 

Instead she’s thinking about the little room. About the way Cora’s eyes roamed over her, bore into her, feral and on fire.

It had started something whirring in the back of her mind. The cogs and gears that worked her brain like an engine had all of a sudden started going a hundred miles an hour. The steady machine that she thought of as her brain, her intelligence, had been infused with something different now. Some spark of competition and pride that she couldn’t let go of.  
Because that’s what Cora had wounded and she couldn’t get past it. She wasn’t angry for Aiden’s sake – he probably was a lightweight, in all honesty. But she was angry that she had lost control of these relationships. She was angry that Cora thought she was a weakling who didn’t know what she was doing. She was angry that she hadn’t got to be the one to reprove Aiden, and Cora had used it to embarrass her.

Couldn’t handle a werewolf. How ridiculous, she thought. 

She had been fighting these things for years without even knowing it. She had been mauled and used and possessed and sent mad and she was still here. She was a survivor. She had survived Peter, and Jackson, and everyone who had ever tried to hurt her or who had left her and damaged her. And she was a god damned psychic. Or something.

She could handle a werewolf.

And she was going to prove it.

 

Cora sighs loudly as her eyes fly open, instantly alert at the sound of the knock on the door.

Though she supposed there weren’t many alpha’s that would knock politely before barging in to kill you, she was naturally wary and careful and ready for attack.

Slowly, prowling with her ears pricking for sounds, she makes her way to the door.

 

As she pads slowly, her keen wolf senses caught a familiar scent from behind the door. The flooding of flowers in her mind told her who it was. She thinks about how the knock had sounded – brisk and impatient.

With a small growl in the back of her throat, Cora narrowed her eyes and flung the door open.

Lydia was stood leaning against the door way with one arm, the other resting on her hip. She’s wearing tight leggings and a little pink sports bra, her bright hair piled up on top of her head like a halo. Despite the time and despite her obvious workout clothes she looks fresh as ever, full face of makeup and a knowing smile.

Cora raises an eyebrow, unimpressed, and folds her arms crossly.

“Funny.” She says in a sarcastically bright voice. “I don’t remember ordering a strip-o-gram.” 

Lydia just rolled her eyes and shoved her way in with a prim lip scrunching and a sigh.

“Lydia, it’s…what time is it?”

Lydia is looking around the loft appraisingly, even though she’s been there before. Cora knows this is an act of being casual, it’s simply to mess with her.

“It’s six am.” Lydia smiles nonchalantly. “I’ve been up for at least an hour already. Quantum physics doesn’t learn itself you know.” She trills in a sing song voice.

Cora frowns at her. “This is not my impressed face.” She says with a little point.

“Oh. I thought you just made that face all the time.” Lydia waved her hand dismissively.

“Why are you here?” Cora snaps angrily, finally having had enough.

Lydia just shrugs and smiles, strolling ever so slowly up to her. When she reaches her, she’s stood so close that Cora can hear her heartbeat. She can feel the warmth radiating of her and swallows.

“You said I couldn’t handle a werewolf.” She preens, her finger trailing lightly up Cora’s arm.

Cora feels the hair on her body stand up, like her skin is moving to greet the touch. She knows what it is to transform, and she feels the echo of it under this girls fingertips, like she’s the moon holding her in her sway, pumping her full of life.

“So I want you to teach me.” Lydia finishes, glancing up from under her lashes.

Cora blanches, just for a second, and she sees the smugness behind Lydia’s eyes.

 

Lydia hits the ground with the ‘oomph!’ Before she even knows what’s happened.

Cora had grabbed her wrist and flung her leg underneath hers to force her to fall on the ground ungracefully. It had happened in one single swift motion – suddenly she had been stinging and staring up at the other girl with crimson cheeks and a scowl.

“First lesson.” Cora quips. “Always be on your guard.”

Lydia pushes herself up and into a fighting stance. Upon seeing her angry determination, a wide feral smile spreads across Cora’s face.

She growls and lunges.

 

Breathless and panting, they fight. Sometimes they laugh, sometimes they push one another just to see if they can. 

It must take hours. Them rolling around on the floor together, digging their claws in just to see the marks. Pushing at soft skin, to see if it’s really as fragile as it looks. Lydia pulls at Cora’s dark hair because she wants to feel the softness and the harshness. Cora lands between Lydia’s legs when she wins their fight again, and she stays there because all she can think about is that someone else has been there before her.

Lydia welcomes it. Her legs tighten slightly as she lays on her back, staring up at Cora wildly as they pant together.

Their breathing begins to slow then, and they calm down, their eyes seeing each other again in this new truce. The battle is done, if not the war. 

This moment, as their breath travels between them both, sharing the air, is not made for bruises. Cora’s hands slacken where they hold Lydia’s wrists above her head. Instead she trails her hands over them, feeling the mountains of her veins, and entwines their fingers.

Breathless, but happy, Lydia lets her and smiles a little.

She sees Cora’s eyes flick downwards to her lips. She isn’t subtle about it. She stares at them for a long moment like the wants to bite into them. Lydia parts them a little in silent permission.

Just as Cora leans down the door opens loudly and they scramble away from one another awkwardly.

Derek walks in with a brown paper bag full of food and pauses as he sees them, dishevelled and flushed and very clearly avoiding standing close to one another.

“Uh…” He starts, glancing confusedly between them.

“We were just-“ Cora starts.

“Are those bagels?” Lydia cries loudly, her eyes mad and wide.

Before waiting for an answer she almost skips over to him and plucks the bag out of his hands, rooting around inside it whilst he casts a glare over to his sister.

“Thanks.” Lydia grins, side stepping him whilst taking a dainty bite of her bagel.

She shimmies over to the door and waves delicately at Cora before disappearing through it, leaving the Hale’s in an uncomfortable silence. Neither of them knew what to make of it, though it was for very different reasons.


	2. Chapter 2

As the weeks go by they spar more and more. 

Lydia does actually learn quite a lot – she was a fast learner and was determined to prove she could do it. Everyone around her seemed to want to warn her or protect her. Cora was the only one that actually seemed to be actively doing that.

Apart from Allison. Allison was as wonderful about it as ever. She knew what it was to want to find your strength and cement that idea within yourself. Whilst she assured Lydia she was strong without knowing how to fight, she was admittedly glad for being able to worry just that little less about her best friend.

And it was only Allison that new about the nights when they didn’t fight.

Some weeks later it had changed. Sometimes Cora would ask her about a movie she hadn’t seen and Lydia would either rent it for them to watch or spend a while trying to explain the plot very badly, which always seemed to make them laugh.

Lydia helped Cora with her school work and Cora would tell her about being a wolf and about what it was like living in Mexico. 

She even found herself talking about her family, which she never did. About the fire, even. Lydia opened up about not only her exes, but that dreadful night on the lacrosse field. These were girls that had faced death and conquered it. They had seen death in the eyes of a beautiful boy, in the fingertips of a girl with a match. These girls were fighters, war heroes, crawling through ashes and dirt and learning to love their scars. They saw this in one another. They found a silent respect and kinship because they were both forged in fires they didn’t start.

Sometimes they would lay out in Lydia’s garden, by the pool, looking up at the stars. Cora would tell her which ones she liked and Lydia would explain what they were called and what they meant.

They were doing this one night, staring up in contentment and Cora pointed.

“What’s that one?”

Lydia squints up for a moment before smiling. “Cassiopeia.” Then she softens, and gets a strange thoughtful look on her face. “I always liked that one.” She says quietly.

Cora doesn’t respond, because she knows that Lydia will tell her without prompting. If she were to speak it might shatter this illusion.

“There are two versions to her story. One is that she was put up there because she boasted that her daughter was more beautiful than a goddess. But the other is the one I prefer.” Lydia explains slowly, calmly. 

Cora’s eyes drift close and she lets herself get lost in the sound of her voice.

“The other version says that Cassiopeia was more beautiful than the sea nymphs. And because she was so divinely beautiful, so godly, she was punished. She was forced to sit on her throne up there, clinging to the north celestial pole just so she didn’t fall. And she’s still spinning around up there, even now. Trying to keep holding on. A beautiful girl, terrified of falling. A girl whose beauty cursed her to live in darkness, only shining for other people... Don’t you think that’s terrible?”

Lydia tears her eyes away slowly to turn her head and look at Cora who is staring at her gently now.

“I think that’s sad.” She agrees quietly. “But I think sometimes all you can do is hold on. Maybe that’s what all the stars are doing.” She shrugs, turning to look up at them.  
Lydia nods silently and follows her gaze.

They stay there all night, and at some point Lydia’s mother comes out and covers them with a blanket whilst they are asleep. She can’t bring herself to wake them up and tell them to come inside, seeing how they are huddled together, Lydia’s head on Cora’s shoulder.

 

The one thing they don’t talk about it Aiden.

Cora doesn’t try to hide her dislike for him, even around Lydia.

Though this is because Lydia never talked about him to her. He never came up and she assumed that Cora thought she was done with him. And she preferred it that way.

She didn’t admit why she preferred it that way, at least not out loud.

She knew deep down that this thing she had discovered with Cora was precious. But it was kindling, it was so small and it belonged only to them and she didn’t want to stamp all over it. And telling Cora she was sleeping with Aiden would definitely do that.

Because they were starting something. Something good and deep. Something real. Aiden wasn’t real to her, not like that. Ok, so he was a person, and maybe if he weren’t part of the evil wolf pack trying to murder them all they might have been friends. But she didn’t love him. She just needed him. They were using each other and they liked it that way.

Well, they mostly liked it. She didn’t like it when he wanted to get all serious with her. She had said she wasn’t looking for a boyfriend and she had meant it (though she didn’t realise she might have meant she was looking for a girlfriend instead.) But recently Aiden had been apparently having deeper feelings for her which she did not have time for.  
And she decides to tell him so.

She had been sleeping with him for weeks and he was very good at it. But one morning by the lockers Cora does something she hadn’t done in public before. She squeezes her hand gently before she leaves.

And that tiny pump of reassurance sends a shock wave through Lydia. It means more to her than anything Aiden’s hands have ever done to her. And she can’t reconcile the feelings she’s having for Cora and the sneaking around with Aiden.

 

She corners him in the gym locker as everyone else files out.

He grins lazily when he sees her and instantly moves to kiss her, but she turns her face away and holds her hands up against him.

“That isn’t why I’m here.” She says, squaring her shoulders and glaring up at him haughtily.

“Well I doubt you’re here to play lacrosse.” He grins and dives toward her again.

This time she shoves him a little harder and he steps back, even though she’s sure it didn’t really affect him.

“What’s up with you?” he frowns. It isn’t real concern though, it’s more akin to a whine about the fact they aren’t making out already.

She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. “I’m not doing this with you any more.”

“You haven’t even told me why you’re mad.” He complains loudly.

“Ugh, not this conversation. This. This thing, whatever we’re doing. This non relationship we’re having, I’m not doing it any more.”

Aiden opens his mouth to protest but she turns sharply on her heel to leave.

As she steps away he grabs her wrist and pulls her back to him.

Lydia lets out a cry of angry shock and tries to pull away but she can’t. She feels only the tiniest bit of panic – mostly she’s incredibly angry at him for daring to do it. And he’s holding her wrist really tightly, almost painfully.

“Let go of me.” She growls lowly through gritted teeth.

“Not until you tell me what’s wrong.” He spits back.

“What’s wrong is that you’re holding onto my arm. Now let me go!”

Seeing that he isn’t listening she begins to tug more forcefully, growing frantic now, but he won’t let go and his grips isn’t budging at all. Suddenly all the moves Cora had taught her left her mind and she realised she really was scared.

“I think you should do what she says.”

Cora’s voice barks out angrily and Lydia whips around to face her in relief.

She sags a little knowing that Cora will help her. She breathes her name with a smile but Cora is looking right past her, scowling at Aiden.

“This doesn’t concern you.” Aiden snaps.

“And that’s where you are so incredibly, stupidly wrong, asshole.” 

 

And then her claws come out.

Lydia is shoved to the side and she watches, wild eyed and breathless, her heart hammering.

She sees Cora swiping violently at Aiden, bright blue eyes shining, like spectres in the dark. Her wolf teeth snap at him, calling to rip into flesh as her animal instincts take over her, breaking her apart and putting her back together as something new.

Aiden fights back and Lydia finds herself slowly backing away from the fight, the yowling and yapping of monsters flooding her ears like she’s drowning.

 

And when it’s over, with a final resounding slap, Aiden scurries away with one last look at her and she knows his pride it hurt worse than anything Cora did to him.

Cora stands in the middle of the locker room, breathing heavily as her face returns to its very angry human form.

“Thank you.” Lydia starts to rush forward, but she stops abruptly when Cora holds her hand up to stop her. 

She can barely look at her and Lydia falters a little.

“Don’t thank me. You shouldn’t have been so stupid.” Cora snaps.

Lydia blanches at her cold tone, hurt. “Excuse me?” She whispers incredulously.

Cora snaps her head up to glare at her. Her fury is making her glow. “You heard me Lydia. What the hell did you expect from a werewolf like him? You put yourself in danger, like an idiot.”

“I did not. I didn’t do this to myself and you know that. And anyway, I was here to – “

“Yeah, I know what you were here to do.” Cora cuts her off abruptly and Lydia clamps her mouth shut in shock. “I don’t need the details thanks…I guess now I know why you needed me to teach you to handle a wolf.” She mutters cruelly.

Lydia shakes her head. She’s angry and hurt. So the assumption was a logical one, she had after all been sleeping with Aiden for some time. But it still hurt to hear it out loud from Cora. And now she was twisting what they had together. And it was unfair of her to think that all that time they had spent with one another hadn’t been real. She should have known it was, even after seeing them in the locker room. She should have trusted her.

Lydia lifts her chin and lets her face settle into a blank mask of indifference. “Well at least I know how to get what I want. At least I can admit to what I want, instead of flirting with a straight girl whose been using me for weeks.”

She regrets it as soon as she says it. It isn’t even true. But Lydia had always been clever, and she knew exactly how to hurt people.

Cora’s mouth drops open in shock. She shakes her head at her, not dignifying it with an answer before she turns and rushes off, out of the locker room, leaving Lydia desperately alone.

 

Lydia tosses and turns all night. She can’t stop thinking about everything that happened.

In a single moment she and Cora had gone from everything to nothing. She felt like the stars burnt out as she passed them on her way home, like the world had been plunged into darkness. Suddenly the best thing she had in her crazy life right now had been ruined, and it was because she had been trying to save it in the first place. It felt so pointless, and cruel.

 

The next day she’s trudging to her sadly and she can’t even pretend everything is fine like she normally did. Even her mother asked her if she had fought with Cora (her mother knew a lot more than she told her, as all mothers do) and she had shrugged it off, saying she was late even though she wasn’t and rushing out before she could ask anything else.

She wasn’t the type of girl to be all forlorn about a relationship, and especially not in front of people. So she tries to smile and be Lydia Martin, all round it girl, but Allison sees through it quick enough. She nudges her with a friendly smile but Lydia doesn’t want to talk about it. She wants to get her books and go to class so she can forget all about the previous day and the way Cora had looked at her. Then once school was over she could go see her and explain. But not apologise, obviously. At least not first anyway.

 

Lydia opens her locker absent-mindedly – and lets out a shriek.

She stares at the floor all around her as what seems like hundreds of little white petals spill out like confetti.

Allison lets out a surprised little laugh as Lydia glares at everyone now staring at her.

“Look, there’s a note.” Allison grins excitedly.

“If it’s from Aiden then I don’t want to read it.”

Allison shakes her head. “It doesn’t have a name…all it says is…that’s weird.” She frowns down at the little piece of paper in her hand.

“That’s weird? What kind of note is that?”

Allison shoots her a sardonic glare and thrusts the note at her.

Lydia takes it hesitantly and flips it open with a sigh. 

“It’s just a bunch of dots…” she complains, then pauses. “It’s just a bunch of dots…”

Lydia hastily looked over the paper again and when she did, she understood what she was looking at. Cassiopeia. Her favourite constellation, her stars condensed into this tiny note. 

It’s from Cora – the note, the petals. It’s Cora and she couldn’t be more happy about it, or more excited and relieved. 

She doesn’t notice Allison glancing behind her until she moves to leave and Lydia looks up in confusion before following her gaze.

Allison disappears as Lydia turns to face Cora, who is smiling shyly at her, leaning against the lockers.

“What is it you called her? A beautiful girl afraid to fall?”

Lydia just smiles and nods and Cora looks at her feet hesitantly.

“When I got home I saw it in the sky. I wasn’t even looking for it, but there it was. Shining up there and judging me.” She grins and Lydia chuckles. “And I realised that maybe you were just afraid. Kind of like me.”

“Ooh. Big bad werewolf admitting when she’s afraid?” Lydia teases good naturedly and Cora rolls her eyes.

“I’m sorry.” She says sincerely. “I shouldn’t have called you stupid or blamed you. I guess I was just…jealous.”

Lydia reaches out and trails her hand down her arm to take her hand. “I should have broken it off with Aiden weeks ago. And I didn’t mean what I said. I would never use you…I would never…” she trails off awkwardly searching for her words.

Cora raises her eyebrow. “That wasn’t the worst bit of that sentence, when you think about it.”

“You mean the part when I said I was straight.” Lydia blushes. “Well that’s clearly not true, much to my surprise.”

Cora laughs and steps closer to her, putting her hand round her waist, and Lydia settles into the touch comfortably like they had been doing it for years.

“I would like to kiss you right now.” Cora says quietly. “But I won’t if you’re not ready for people to know.”

Lydia rolls her eyes. “I’m so ready. I’m ready not to be afraid, not to sneak around or be ashamed. So will you just kiss me already?”

And she does.

Over and over for a long time.

Lydia feels the metal of the lockers digging into her back as she is pressed against them, but she doesn’t mind a bit. All the can focus on is Cora’s tongue in her mouth, roaming like a predator as their lips move together.

So the fires that forged their armour sparked together and became a single flame, scorching over their skin as they enveloped one another hungrily, possessively.

And later that night, with aching hands and familiar weights, Lydia proves she really can handle a werewolf.


End file.
